Ella Ceron

Funny, I never thought of myself as strange. I knew I wasn’t foreign. Why would a word — an arbitrary word, an innocuous word, just a word, just letters and sounds — make me so uneasy?

Being realistically aware that there is only a finite amount that I’m capable of ever learning doesn’t mean that I don’t have a long list of things I hope to learn — there are so many, and these are just a few.

It’s only when you begin to accept yourself for who you are — when you talk yourself down from the ledges of changing every last detail of what you think and what you say and who you like and what you don’t — that rejection seems a little less scary, because the people who would reject you won’t bother.

And I don’t know if you’ll say it back, and to be honest, I don’t know if I really need to hear it back. It’d be nice, sure, but expecting you to love me just because I love you feels like too much pressure, doesn’t it?

You might or might not have shoved somebody over in the mania of a sample sale.

Whether it’s because you’re allergic to putting labels on things, or are just too scared to ask exactly how invested your significant no-ther is when it comes to the two of you, being in an undefined relationship is tough.

If you’re told you can’t take a working vacation, you have a minor fit and wonder whether using your precious vacation days is even worth it anymore.

One morning, I’m going to wake up and look at you and say we should go board a train to anywhere. To everywhere. I hope you’re ready.

Think of the responsibility! Think of the patience! Think of the ability to bring in treats for your coworkers just because!

It might not feel like it now, but there will always be another crush, another job to apply for, another raise to ask for, another dream to chase. That’s how the world works.

I hereby dub thee, Mr. Jackson, Dances With Late Night.

I wonder what color Marilyn Monroe wore. That’s like, a red red. I should Google that.

Having someone rely on you is as gratifying as it is sweet. But only initially. There’s only so much they’ll be able to do either on their own or with you.

“Girl, you so cute, I just wanna douse you in green paint and spank you like a disobedient avocado.”

55. Not saying “hi” to that cute person across the bar just because they seem “out of your league.”

Being two seconds off from your best mile time — or worse, being thirty. six. freaking. seconds off a race P.R.

Love isn’t something you can pick and choose when it’s convenient for you to do so. Love isn’t just the easy parts. Love is every part.

There’s going to be a lot of footwork involved, lots of frustration in which you try something on and it doesn’t fit just the way you want it to, and a fair number of days in which you go home empty-handed, but this is part of the hunt.